


En Pointe

by fortunehasgivenup



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ballet, Domestic, Dream Sex, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Misunderstandings, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:29:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22200337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortunehasgivenup/pseuds/fortunehasgivenup
Summary: Beth’s glad that Jane has befriended the new boy in her ballet class, especially now that the other mothers are giving her looks and whispering about how she left Dean in the midst of his (non-existent) chemo. She’s almost relieved even. Did he have to have such a hot dad though?
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Comments: 40
Kudos: 315





	En Pointe

“Honey, don’t run in the parking lot,” Beth calls out to Emma, who slows down to walk beside her. “Did you like your new karate teacher?”

“Yeah!” Emma said. “He’s really nice and funny.”

If you had told Beth a year ago that Jane was going to be the one to stick to ballet and Emma would be in karate, she would have laughed, but a lot of things could change in a year. A marriage for example.

Beth smiles and opens the studio door only to immediately wish that she’d never even gotten out of bed that morning because there’s Cathy, smiling and laughing with some of the other moms.

She steels herself - for Jane, she chants in her head, you’re doing this for Jane - and walks in with her head high.

Emma, sensitive Emma, picks up on Beth’s hesitance and steps closer to her mother as Cathy looks over. All of the moms turn a little frosty and Beth can practically hear them whispering. 

_Did you hear? She filed for divorce while he was going through chemo._

Beth wishes that she could protest, wishes that she could grab a fistful of Cathy’s hair and say, “Really? You’re pushing that rumour?”

But it’s just…not worth it.

Jane prances over in her frothy pink outfit, followed by a little boy in black and white that Beth doesn’t recognize. Apparently there’s two boys in Jane’s class this year, not just Evan. Beth smiles at him and, although his is shy, he smiles back.

“Hi Mommy, can Marcus come over and play? I told him about the tree house and he doesn’t have a backyard because he and his daddy live in a condo.” Jane seems to say it all in a single breath, but Beth is used to it.

“Hi honey,” Beth greets Jane. “Nice to meet you, Marcus.”

“Hi,” he says, much more quietly.

“Is your dad here?” Beth asks, looking around. “Maybe we can set up a playdate.”

Marcus shakes his head. “My aunt is picking me up.”

“Well,” Beth says, “in that case, I don’t think that today is a good day for us to have you over. Is he coming next week?” He nods. “Then I’ll make sure to talk to him about you coming over to play in the treehouse. How does that sound?”

“I’d like that,” he says, smiling a little more warmly now.

“Nice to meet you Marcus,” she sets her hand on Jane’s shoulders, “and we’ll see you next week. We have to go pick up Jane’s brother.”

“Okay. See you next week, Jane!” He waves at them and Beth practically has to drag her out to the car.

From there, it’s Marcus this and Marcus that. Marcus says that his dad lets him stay up until 9 on weekends. Marcus says that he and his dad have Saturday traditions. When Beth asks what that means, Jane has no idea. But he has them, so Jane wants some too.

So she’s a little curious when she drops Jane off at the next ballet class. Marcus is already there, looking hesitant again, but he lights up when Jane tosses her sweater to Beth with a quick “Bye Mommy!” and rushes over to him.

She says hi to the teacher, then heads a few doors down to the fabric store for the next hour.

When she returns to the studio, the cluster of moms waves at her.

Beth walks over to them slowly, unsure of where this is going. They’ve all been ignoring her for months now.

Rita’s the first to speak. “Have you seen him?”

“Who?” Beth wonders.

“If you’d seen him, you’d know,” Kate snickers.

“The new dad, the one with the little boy,” Rita answers. “Marco.”

“Marcus,” Beth corrects.

Kate waves a hand. “Whatever. I was here when he dropped Marcus off and honestly, I’m a little worried.”

Beth furrows her brow. “What are you talking about?”

“Tattoos all over,” Rita says, “dresses like he’s in a gang. I’m not sure that it’s the kind of message we want to send to our kids.”

Beth stares at them, dumbfounded.

She’s trying to figure out what to say to that when the door to the class opens and kids come spilling out. Beth steps away from the other moms, smiling at the sight of Jane and Marcus with their arms linked at the elbows.

“Hi Mommy!” Jane calls out.

“Hi Jane. Hi Marcus.”

Marcus isn’t looking at her though as he peels off from Jane. “Daddy!”

Beth looks over her shoulder towards where Marcus is heading to see a tall man a couple steps behind her. The first thing that Beth notices is his face. It’s angular, sharpened by dark stubble.

“‘Ey pop,” he responds in a deep voice, letting Marcus run into his leg.

Jane grabs Beth’s hand, then pulls her over to Marcus and his dad.

Beth has more of a chance to take him in. The tattoos on his throat and arms that the other moms had been talking about. They’re...a lot.

“Can Marcus come over and play?” Jane demands.

Marcus’ dad crouches in front of her and he smiles. It instantly transforms his face, removing any of the harshness and replacing it with warmth. Beth blinks. “You must be Jane, yeah?”

Jane nods.

“Nice to meet you,” he says, holding out his hand for her to shake. “Marcus told me all about you after last class.”

“Can he come over?” Jane repeats her question.

Marcus’ dad shakes his head. “Not tonight, sweetheart. We’ve got dinner at his abuela’s. This your mama?”

“Yes,” Beth says, bringing his gaze to her. He straightens up to his full height. “I’m Beth.”

“Rio,” he says, shaking her hand. “Sounds like we’re gonna have to set something up.”

Beth nods. “Sounds like it. Is Marcus free after Thursday’s class?”

Rio looks down at Marcus, who has pressed himself up against his dad’s leg. “Are we free?”

Marcus nods enthusiastically.

Laughing, Rio sets his hair on Marcus’ head and strokes his hair. “Sounds like he is.”

“Can he come over for dinner?” Jane asks.

“Honey,” Beth starts to say, but Rio’s already there.

“How about you and Marcus go play for a few more minutes while I talk to your mom?” he suggests. That’s acceptable to Jane, who grabs Marcus’ hand and drags him off to the barre.

“It’s up to you,” he says.

It takes Beth a moment to catch up. “Sorry?”

“Dinner,” Rio says. “You’ve got at least two kids - Marcus mentioned Jane and a sister - so another kid at dinner might be a hassle for you.”

Beth prickles at the insinuation. “I have four,” she informs him. “And it’s no trouble for Marcus to join us. You just need to make sure to let Miss Leah know that Marcus will be leaving with me on Thursday.”

He nods. “Do I get an address of where to pick him up? A phone number?” His eyebrow goes up. “Or are you one of the worried ones?”

Beth’s head jerks back. “Huh?”

He laughs, mirthless, then jerks his head towards some of the other moms. “I’m not sure if they think tattoos impair hearing or what, but they don’t talk real quiet.”

Beth’s cheeks pink, mind going to the conversation that she’d been pulled into earlier. “If you give me your phone, I’ll add my numbers - house and cell,” she tells him.

“Brave of you,” he says with a deadpan, but pulls his phone from his pocket and unlocks it. When he hands it over, he’s already opened a new contact for “Jane’s Mom”.

“Marcus is really sweet,” Beth says to him as she enters her phone numbers. “I’m glad that he’s in the class.” She hits enter and hands his phone back to him. “I’ll see you Thursday.”

He nods.  
———————————

“What does your dad do?” Beth asks Marcus as she cuts apples for the kids. She had picked them up from ballet, talking to each other like if they didn’t say exactly what was on their minds at any given moment, they’d die.

“He works at the library,” Marcus replies, making Beth’s hands slip. The knife bites into her finger and she hisses, dropping it onto the counter and putting her finger into her mouth. She can taste the copper on her tongue.

“Are you okay?” Marcus and Jane both react immediately, but with different levels of panic.

Beth smiles, grabbing a tissue to apply pressure to the cut. “I’m okay,” she assures them both. “I hope those pieces are small enough though.”

Marcus nods, but it’s Jane she’s more worried about. Jane likes her apple in paper thin slices. She’s half expecting a tantrum, but Jane just looks at Marcus out of the corner of her eye and nods too.

“Can we eat them in the TV room?” Jane asks.

“Sure,” Beth shoos them away. Thankfully the dinner’s already in the oven. Trying to do prep with a cut on her thumb would be a pain and a half.

Marcus’ politeness extends to mealtimes. He waits patiently as Beth serves everyone and watches to see when others start eating. He struggles a bit with the slipperiness of the spaghetti, but Jane nudges him with her elbow and shows him how she does it. It’s a minimal sauce flinging method, so Beth doesn’t step in.

“Is this your first year doing ballet, Marcus?” Beth asks after they’ve all taken a few bites.

Marcus shakes his head. “I did a summer program and it was really fun, so I asked my daddy if I could do it for real. We went to a few places to meet teachers but he didn’t like them.”

“Why not?” Jane asks for Beth.

“Too mean,” Marcus says with a scrunched up nose.

Beth can understand the statement. It had taken three different class cycles for her to find a good spot when Emma started with ballet. Some of them had been far too competitive with a bunch of four year olds.

“Does your mommy like ballet?” Emma asks. Beth can tell it’s the wrong question when Marcus shrinks a little.

“Honey,” Beth cuts in, “I think we should let Marcus eat his dinner. Just because you four have no problems talking with food in your mouths, doesn’t mean that our guest is okay with it.”

Jane giggles and Beth is pretty sure she’s about to open her mouth to show them all a mouthful of half-chewed spaghetti, so she levels her with a look.

They get through dinner with minimal mishaps, then chocolate pudding for dessert.

“Alright, go wash up, you two,” Beth scolds. “Your dad will be here soon and if I send you back like this, he’ll never let you come back.”

Marcus and Jane giggle all their way upstairs to the bathroom, whispering to each other. Beth rolls her eyes, but she has to smile as she does it.

She’s just turning to load the dishwasher when there’s a knock.

Beth opens the door and steps back. “Hi. Come on in,” she invites Rio.

He follows her, eyeing everything.

She can hear the water running upstairs and says a silent prayer that they aren’t making a complete mess. Her years of playing hostess force her to make conversation. “Marcus said that you’re a librarian.”

Rio nods, looking awkward in her kitchen.

“Which branch do you work at?”

He meets Beth’s eye. “Believe me, it’s not a neighbourhood you’re familiar with.”

Beth just crosses her arms over her chest.

He tells her. He’s right, it isn’t a neighbourhood that she’s familiar with. “We’re always looking for a good story time and Marcus says you do the voices.”

His exterior cracks, the same way it had when he’d smiled at Jane in the studio the other day. 

“Kid doesn’t let me do it any other way. Apparently he needed to announce that to the whole library too, so now the kids won’t let me just read ‘em a story. I gotta “do the voices, Mr. Rio”,” he raises the pitch of his voice, “or they’ll revolt.”

“You can’t handle a few six year olds?” Beth teases.

He looks at her. “You ever had five of ‘em sit on you at the same time? They add up. One of them punched me in the nose last week. They’ve got no co-ordination to speak of. I spend half my time pulling books out of kids’ mouths. If I can keep ‘em calm, I will.”

Beth laughs at the image of a bunch of toddlers using this man as a jungle gym.

He must know what she’s thinking because when he meets her eye this time, he’s softened.

“How long have you been a librarian?” she asks him.

He shrugs. “Finished my master’s degree when Marcus was in preschool. Got this job about a year ago.”

“It was the one you wanted, wasn’t it?” Beth guesses. There’s something about the way he’s speaking about it.

“Yeah,” he admits. “Same library I went to when I was a kid.”

“That’s nice,” Beth says truthfully. “Some of the librarians still the same?”

Rio laughs. “A couple of them, yeah. My boss used to run story time when my mom took me.”

Beth can just picture it - him looking like a mini version of Marcus, sitting on a carpet and waiting for story time.

“If it’s alright with you,” Beth says, “I’d like to bring the kids by. Like I said, we’re always looking for a good story time and I think Jane is really impressed.”

His eyebrows furrow. “Huh?”

“By you being a librarian,” Beth clarifies. “I think she’d be delighted to go to a library where she knows the librarian.”

“Oh.” He looks surprised, but nods. “Yeah, bring ‘em by sometime.”

“I will,” Beth replies right as Marcus and Jane round the corner to stomp downstairs.

“Daddy!” Marcus practically runs into his dad’s arms to give him a hug.

“Hey pop,” Rio says, returning the hug. “You say thank you to Miss Elizabeth for having you over for dinner?”

Marcus turns to look at Beth. “Thank you! You make the best spaghetti and meatballs I ever had. And I hope your finger feels better.”

“Thank you, Marcus. I’m sure it will,” she replies, wrapping her hand around Jane’s hair to pull it back. “We’ll see you at ballet next week?”

“Yup!”

—————————

That weekend, Beth goes to the library with Jane, Emma, and Danny. Emma and Jane are excited to see the library where Marcus’ dad works, but Danny is just kind of kicking his feet and sighing.

“Do you remember the library rules?” Beth asks Jane, holding her hand as they cross the street.

Jane nods. “No shouting or running. Be polite. Can I say hi to Mr. Rio though?”

“Sure,” Beth says, pulling open the door and letting the kids file in.

They don’t run, but Jane certainly walks fast towards what is clearly the children’s section. Beth follows more slowly, checking the bulletin boards and posters they’ve got up.

Eventually though, she catches up with them. She doesn’t see Rio at first, just a couple of parents with their kids. Then her eyes fall on him.

Beth stares. It had been one thing to think about Rio as a children’s librarian but seeing it is something else. He’s sitting next to a low shelf with a couple of kids, pulling out books for them and reading out the titles, then putting them back if they shake their heads, or putting them on a pile when they nod. There’s another kid hanging off his neck, probably choking him.

One of them says something that makes him laugh, throwing his head back as he does. It’s a rich sound that Beth wants to luxuriate in, but as he lowers his head again, he catches sight of her.

He blinks slowly, lips parted.

“Mr. Rio!” Jane says far louder than she’s supposed to.

Beth hurries after the girls. “Honey,” she reminds Jane, “indoor voice.”

“Ooops,” Jane says, not sorry.

“Hey there, Jane,” Rio greets Jane. “This must be Emma.”

Emma’s a bit more shy about it, but she says, “Hi,” and shakes Rio’s hand. The kids that had been hanging on Rio retreat, picking up their piles of books to take to their respective parents.

“Marcus said you like to read a lot,” Rio says. There’s something different about his voice and it takes a beat for Beth to realize that he’s softened it slightly for Emma. “He was impressed by all your books.”

“He was?” Emma looks surprised.

Rio nods. “Said it was like the library in Beauty and the Beast.”

Emma giggles. “That’s my favourite movie,” she tells him.

“Yeah?” Rio asks. “It’s a good one. You like princesses?” When Emma nods, he pushes himself up until he’s standing. “Then I think I’ve got some books you might like.”

Jane’s pleased to just follow Rio and Emma a few rows down. The shelves are short enough that Beth can see over top of them, but Rio crouches to get whatever books he was talking about. She hears Jane laugh and a minute later, both of them come back around the end of the row, each of them holding a few books that they carry to the reading nook.

Rio follows a little more slowly and comes to a stop beside Beth. “‘Fraid I don’t have any adult recommendations,” he says, “so you’ll have to talk to one of my colleagues in the big kid section.”

Beth snorts, only to be immediately horrified by the sound. God Beth, keep it together.

“Hope they didn’t interrupt anything,” she says.

“Nah, was starting to lose airflow to my brain,” he replies, rubbing his throat with a slight wince. “They probably saved me. That one yours too?”

Beth follows his gaze to see Danny sitting in between shelves with a stack of books by his knee.

“Yup, that’s Danny.”

“You’ve got another one too, yeah?” Rio asks.

Beth nods. “Kenny. He’s having one on one time with his dad this weekend,” she explains. “He’s not good with four of them at a time.”

And why is she telling him this? It’s not like he needs to know.

When she turns away from Danny, she catches a scowl on Rio’s face.

“Why do you keep quiet about this at ballet?” Beth asks him the question she’s been wanting to ever since Marcus told her that his dad was a librarian. “The moms at ballet wouldn’t be half as rude if they knew you were a children’s librarian.”

“Has it occurred to you that I’m not interested in being friends with people who think that because I have tattoos I’m in a gang?” Rio looks at her, eyebrow raised, to wait for her answer.

Beth is mortified. “I’m sorry, I just thought -“

He sighs. “I’m not talking about you,” he says. “You’re a’ight.”

“Thanks,” Beth mutters at that, making his lips twitch.

“Nah, I’m talking about the other moms, the ones that look at me and Marcus like they don’t want us there. Never mind that a couple of them have still found the time to hit on me,” he goes on, the almost smile disappearing.

Beth gasps. “They didn’t! Who?”

He looks at her.

“Not for gossip purposes,” she assures him, holding up her hand like she’s swearing on a Bible. “Just for personal satisfaction.”

“Cathy. Marina. Kate.”

Beth gasps again. “She slept with my husband! Ex-husband,” she rushes to tack on.

Rio’s eyes widen. “What?”

“Cathy,” Beth says. “She slept with my ex back when we were still married. I didn’t even find out until a year later when I found out about him and his secretary. Then after I kicked him out of the house, he came to me at our eldest’s birthday party to tell me that he had cancer. Which, turns out, was a lie.”

Rio’s eyes are even wider now. “He lied to you about having cancer?”

Beth nods. “When I found out, I made him leave and filed for divorce. Now everyone thinks I’m a cold bitch who would divorce a guy going through chemo!”

“Why don’t you tell them the truth?” Rio asks.

She looks at him. “Why don’t you tell the moms that you’re a children’s librarian?”

“Touché,” he replies.

“When it all went down,” Beth says with a shrug, “I thought about it. But God, it’s so humiliating, you know? And I can’t stand the idea of grovelling to them so that they’ll let me back in.”

“Makes sense,” Rio agrees, then lowers his voice to add, “They fucking suck.”

Beth giggles.

“You’re not gonna ask?” Rio says after a moment.

“About what?” Beth tilts her head as she looks him over.

“About any of it. Marcus’ mom. Why I’ve got the tattoos,” Rio answers.

Beth shakes her head. “You can tell me, if you want. But I don’t want to pry.”

He studies her for a stretch, long enough to make Beth start to fidget under his attention.

“Your husband was a real fu-“ he catches himself, “screw-up, huh?”

“You have no idea,” Beth sighs.

——————————

After that, Rio starts getting to ballet a little bit early like she does rather than at the last minute, right before the class finishes. The first time he does it, he comes over to stand by her.

“Hi,” Beth says.

“Hey,” he replies. “Emma like the books?”

That conversation takes them through the first wait and the next time, Beth asks him if he needs help with Marcus’ pointe shoes.

“Nah, my sister did ballet,” he says with a shake of his head. “She’s been showing us. But thanks.”

The third time, it’s after Jane misses a class due to being hit by a nasty cold.

“She good now?” Rio asks.

Beth, exhausted, nods. “But now Kenny’s got it.”

They go on like that for a while and Beth stops keeping count, but she learns that he’s got two sisters - one older and one younger. It’s the younger sister who did ballet - Mia. The older, Gina, was a prototypical tomboy and apparently taught Rio most of what he knows about winning a fight. His mom and dad are both alive, but they moved to Texas a few years ago to take care of his dad’s parents and never came back.

“They hate the cold,” Rio says.

She tells him a bit more about the Dean situation, which makes him utter a few choice curse words loud enough for some other moms to shoot the pair of them dirty looks.

A couple of months of these conversations and a handful of playdates, Beth feels genuinely happy when she thinks about him and she thinks that he might feel the same. He’s usually got a smile for her, the one that crinkles his eyes, and Beth’s always happy to return it.

One afternoon, Rio stands next to Beth as they wait for the lesson to be over.

“She died.”

Beth turns her head towards him.

“Marcus’ mom,” Rio clarifies. “Car crash. He was about fourteen months.”

“I’m so sorry, Rio.” She sets her hand on his arm. “That must have been difficult.”

Rio blinks. “We weren’t together. We’d just started figuring out how to co-parent and then she was gone.”

She squeezes his arm. “You’re doing an amazing job with Marcus,” she assures him. “He’s a wonderful kid. Smart and kind.”

“Yeah, I think that’s just him,” Rio says. “Doesn’t get it from me, that’s for sure.”

She laughs quietly. “I dunno, I seem to remember you letting a bunch of kids stand on your kidney recently.”

He winces.

“You’re a great dad,” Beth doubles down. “Marcus loves you.”

“For now,” he says, glancing away. They’re saved from the conversation by the classroom door opening. But before the kids come pouring out, Beth moves her hand down to his and presses their palms together. Rio turns his head to look at her, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

Suddenly embarrassed, Beth yanks her hand away to smile at Jane as she comes running over with Marcus.

She never should have touched him.

———————

Rio’s head is between her thighs, eating her out slowly and meticulously. Beth’s hips rise up to get more pressure, but he just follows the movement.

“Rio,” she moans. “Rio, please let me -“

“Shhh,” he says, parting her thighs a little further. “We gotta get you ready.”

She feels a thrill at the thought.

“Then after you’ve come so hard you can’t move,” he says in between sucking and licking on her clit, “I’ll put away the laundry.”

Beth wakes up all at once, flailing slightly in bed. She stares up at the ceiling.

Oh god.

She’d been having a sex dream. About Rio. About Marcus’ _dad_. She puts both of her hands over her face and groans. What’s worse is she’s still feeling it. She’s feeling more aroused than she has in a good long while.

Biting her lip and checking the time - plenty before she’s got to get the kids up to school - Beth opens the drawer of her nightstand and pulls out her vibrator. She hunts for some inspiration, but everything she comes up with has Rio in it.

Rio making love to her in the kitchen.

Riding Rio in the backseat of his stupid muscle car.

She squirms, pressing her thighs together.

Rio going down on her in bed. Thoroughly. Making noises like he’d been enjoying it rather than seeing it as the price of admission.

Saying he’d put away the laundry.

Jesus. She needs to get laid.

“I’ll help you with that, mami,” Rio says, sliding into bed next to her. Beth’s breath hitches. She turns her vibrator on. “That’s a good start,” he kisses the hinge of her jaw.

Beth doesn’t stop touching herself as she imagines Rio talking her through her orgasm. His voice is rougher than she’s heard it before, husky with arousal. She wants to reach out and touch him, so she shuts her eyes and pictures it, sliding her hand over to cup him. He’d be hard.

“Yeah,” Rio groans. “Give me that pussy, sweetheart.”

He would knock the vibrator away so that he could position himself where he needed to before sliding into her in one long glide that has Beth’s toes curling in her sheets.

“There we go,” he purrs into her chest, nudging those narrow hips against hers.

Beth pictures him leading the hand with the vibrator back down, turning it on against her clit.

“Don’t stop doing that, mami,” he tells her. “Want you to squeeze on my cock, wanna feel you coming.”

“I won’t,” Beth gasps. “I won’t stop.”

He builds an intoxicating rhythm that has Beth’s eyes rolling back in her head as she comes, clenching and squeezing around nothing.

She shuts the vibrator off, feeling a slight sense of guilt almost immediately.

Here she is, objectifying Rio. She’s no different from the moms who hit on him when he first started bringing Marcus. How is she supposed to look him in the eye knowing that she’s imagined how he would feel inside of her? She’s an idiot.

————————————

Beth rushes through pick-up the next time Jane has ballet, getting there just seconds before the class ends and hurrying Jane along. She says a quick hello to Rio and Marcus, then practically tows Jane to the van.

“Why are we rushing?” Jane wants to know.

And Beth can’t exactly say “Because I imagined Marcus’ dad fucking me so good that I can’t even walk after” so she mutters something about being behind on dinner prep.

“Then we should get pizza,” Jane suggests.

It speaks to how frazzled Beth is that she agrees.

She manages it for two weeks - avoiding Rio. Jane keeps asking if she and Marcus can hang out, but thankfully Dean’s schedule takes a weird swing and Beth is left doing everything. She’s almost grateful to be run off her feet.

That is, until she’s standing in the frozen foods aisle stocking up on frozen fruit.

“Look who it is.”

Beth’s eyes widen and she spins around, coming face to face with Rio. “Hi,” she stammers.

His face darkens and jaw tenses. “Guess I don’t need to ask if you’ve been alright.”

“What?” Beth asks.

“What’s your problem?” Rio demands, staring her down. “I thought we were over this.”

“Nothing’s wrong!” Beth insists. Other than me really wanting to lick that tattoo on your throat, among other things. “And there’s no this to be over.”

He scowls, shakes his head. “Bullshit,” he mutters. “Whatever, Elizabeth. Thought you were different from the rest of 'em, but I guess I was wrong.”

“I had a sex dream about you and I want to go out with you!”

She nearly shouts it. As soon as it’s out of her mouth, her head whips around to see if anyone’s around to have witnessed that embarrassing moment. When she looks back at Rio’s face, the anger is gone, replaced with confusion.

“Huh?”

Beth swallows. “I didn’t want to make it weird between us.”

“Make what weird?” Rio asks, putting his basket - which only contains two boxes of Hot Pockets and oh God, is that what he feeds Marcus, they’re going to get scurvy - into her cart and touching her cheek. “What are you worried about making weird?”

Beth sighs. “I don’t have a lot of friends. I have Annie, who’s my sister, and Ruby, who’s pretty much my sister at this point, but other than that…” she trails off. “I like having someone to talk to and spend time with when I don’t feel like I’m playing invisible chess with underhanded insults. I don’t want to ruin that by making you uncomfortable.”

“You think I’d be uncomfortable if you’re interested in me?” His head tilts to the side.

Beth nods.

“For a smart woman, you can be real stupid,” he says, making her mouth drop open. How dare he say - her thought cuts off as his thumb settles on her bottom lip. “Been wanting to kiss you for weeks.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Rio agrees and starts to lower his face towards hers. Beth’s heart skips a beat, then another, as her eyes slip shut. But just as Rio’s lips can brush over his, a familiar voice calls her name.

“Hi Beth!”

She turns her head towards Tyler, who waves from the end of the aisle.

“Hi Tyler,” she calls back.

“How’s Emma’s karate going?” Tyler asks, walking towards them with a jovial smile.

Tyler’s never been anything but nice to Annie, so Beth smiles back and lets herself be drawn into conversation.

“Annie didn’t mention that you were seeing anyone,” Tyler says after a minute of polite questions, turning his head towards Rio. It’s a question but not a question.

Beth laughs self consciously. “Oh it’s -“

“It’s new,” Rio replies, draping an arm around her shoulders.

Tyler nods. “That’s good,” he says to Rio. “Her ex-husband was an a-hole and Beth’s one of the nicest people that I’ve ever met. Nice to meet you -“

“Rio,” Rio says.

Tyler nods again. “Well, I’ll let you get back to your grocery shopping. Annie’s on cash,” he tells Beth, then he leaves them alone in the frozen foods aisle.

“What was the dream like?”

“Huh?” Beth looks up at him.

“You said you had a sex dream about me,” Rio says with a smug grin. “What was it like?”

Beth’s cheeks redden.

“Was I good?” he steps a little closer. “I’m thinking, based on the fact that you’ve been avoiding me and that you could probably fry an egg on your cheeks right now, that I was.”

“Shut up,” she hisses, clutching the push bar of her grocery cart.

“I’m just teasing, Elizabeth,” he says. “You done?” He nods towards the cart.

Beth swallows. “Yeah. I’m done.”

At that, he nudges her out of the way and starts pushing the cart towards the cash registers. Beth’s left standing there, blinking after him.

“You coming?” Rio asks over his shoulder. “You got the reusable bags.”

Beth opens her mouth to protest before realizing that he’s right. She does have the reusable bags and what’s more, those are her groceries that he’s walking away with.

She races after him.

When they reach the cash, Beth steers the cart towards Annie’s line. She’s got a bunch of stuff to scan, but they can drag it out to give Annie a bit of a break.

Beth’s starting to load her items on the conveyor belt when Annie’s manager shows up.

“Annie-banani,” he says, setting his hand on her shoulder in a way that makes Annie stiffen and Beth see red. “You been double bagging again?”

“No, Boomer,” Annie says through gritted teeth, “I haven’t. Have yourself a fine and frugal day,” she says to the woman in front of Beth in the line.

Beth watches the strain around Annie’s eyes as Boomer doesn’t remove his hand.

“Hi Annie,” Beth greets her sister.

“Hey Beth,” Annie replies, then seems to register that there’s a strange guy with her.

“You remember Rio?” Beth says carefully.

Annie nods.

Rio laughs, setting a possessive hand on Beth’s waist. It’s too blatant to be missed, but as he does it, Beth notices that he stands a little taller as well, lifts his chin a little, showing his tattoo off.

“You’re Annie’s sister,” Boomer says.

“That’s right,” Beth nods. “And this is my boyfriend, Rio.”

Rio nods. “Hey.” His voice is deeper too and is he - is he intimidating Boomer?

The man in question drops his hand from Annie’s back. “Hi,” he says, puffing up his own chest as he does.

Rio bends down to whisper something in Beth’s ear. “This guy a problem?”

Beth jerks her chin up in a slight nod.

“How you been today, Annie?” Rio asks. “I remember you saying something about a handsy manager at work.”

Annie’s eyes widen.

“Just wanted to double down on my offer to break those hands off, you ever need me to,” Rio says it quietly - no one outside of the four of them can hear him. “Well, I’d start with the fingers probably. No fun going right for the hand.”

Annie slowly smiles. “Oh yeah?”

Rio hums. “With me and Elizabeth getting closer, you being her baby sister makes you practically my baby sister, you know? There’s perks that come with that.”

Boomer steps back, nearly tripping as he does, then bolts back to wherever he likes to hide.

Annie laughs once he’s gone. “Damn, that was beautiful. So who are you actually?”

“My son goes to ballet with Jane,” Rio says, reaching over to shake her hand.

Beth can see Annie working it out in her head. She’s heard about Marcus and Marcus’ hot dad. She sees it when Annie makes the connection. “Marcus, right?”

Rio nods.

“From what I hear, he’s an absolute sweetheart,” Annie says with a smile. “I hope you’re the same because if you hurt my sister, I’m not going to break your hands. I’ll get Carl in meats to cut your dick off and I’ll make you eat it.”

Beth’s mouth falls open as she stares at her sister. “Annie!”

Rio laughs though. “Don’t think I’ve heard that one before.”

“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t become necessary,” Annie says, scanning the last item.

Beth just keeps staring at her sister.

It’s when Rio’s helping her load her bags into the trunk of the van and he takes out the boxes of Hot Pockets that she realizes he paid for everything.

“Oh my god!” Beth gasps. “Let me pay you back,” she says as she digs for her purse.

Rio laughs. “Nah. None of that. That was more fun than I’ve had in awhile.”

“You just bought my groceries, Rio. I’m paying you back.”

“You want to pay me back, you can make me dinner,” he says.

Beth opens her mouth, looks at the Hot Pockets, then up at him. “You can’t be feeding Marcus that kind of stuff, Rio. It’s terrible for you.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, there’s no nutritional value to them, not to mention all of the packaging,” she starts to lecture, but slowly trails off as she sees his lips curve into a smile. “What?”

“He got straight As on his report card, which means he gets to pick a treat. He asked for Hot Pockets,” Rio says, still smiling. “But go on. I’m learning all kinds of stuff about proper feeding habits.”

Beth flushes. Right, he’s an adult. And everything else she’s seen from him has indicated that he’s a competent dad. The ballet classes, the calm way that she’s seen him speak to Marcus when Marcus is upset.

“So how about it?” His voice breaks her out of the highlight reel of him being a dad that’s running through her head. “You gonna feed me?”

“Oh,” Beth clears her throat. “Right. Sure! I would just be freezing the rest of the curry anyways. The kids aren’t big fans, so I usually just make it for me when they’re not around but it’s a pain so I’m not going to make a smaller batch, that would be ridiculous. Hop in, I’ll put you to work to help with prep.”

He shakes his head. “I drove here. How about I follow your car.”

Beth spends the whole way home twitching in the driver’s seat. She nearly misses the turnoff for her own street. She’s an absolute mess. And the whole way home, she can see Rio in the rearview.

“You’re just feeding him, Beth,” she mutters to herself. “Get it together.”

She pulls all the way into the driveway, leaving space for him to pull in behind her, which he does. Without asking, he starts to help her ferry groceries inside.

“I don’t know where any of these go,” he says as he sets down the first couple of bags. “So how ‘bout you stay here and I’ll bring in the rest.”

He doesn’t wait for an answer, just goes back out after pressing a hand to Beth’s back. She’s left staring after him for a beat before shaking it off. Her mind supplies her with a memory of Dean pulling into the driveway behind her a few times, helping with one load of groceries only to disappear after that, leaving her to finish.

But Rio carries in all of the groceries, asks if he can put the Hot Pockets in her freezer.

From there, it gets worse. He knows how to cut an onion quickly with minimal waste. He peeks at the recipe in the book that Beth has open on the counter and pulls out the spices, measuring them and grouping them together according to when they’re added. He cleans as he goes.

“We have a small kitchen,” Rio explains when Beth comments on it. “If I’m not on top of my dishes, I’m gonna have a real hard time actually finishing a meal. Unlike you, we don’t have a dishwasher.”

He takes care of the rice and warms the naan. By the time they sit at the table, Beth feels dizzy from it.

Could you get drunk from competence? Efficiency?

You could definitely get aroused by it, Beth knows. She crosses her legs in an attempt to prevent herself from moving around a lot as they eat.

“This is good,” he says after a few bites. “I’ll have to get a copy of the recipe.”

“Marcus will like it?” Beth asks.

He nods. “He likes anything with spices in it and he’s been getting into cooking shows.”

“Yeah?” Beth smiles at the obvious affection on Rio’s face.

“Wanted to make éclairs last weekend,” Rio sighs. “Had to talk him into just going somewhere to buy ‘em. I have no idea how to make an éclair.”

Beth laughs. “Well, you’re in luck because I do,” she says, lifting her wine glass. “I’d be happy to have him over to make them one day.”

Rio cocks his head. “Just him?”

“You want to learn how to make éclairs too?” Beth says, a little disbelieving.

He shrugs. “Never hurts havin’ another skill. Besides, then the next time he asks, we can do it.”

Beth is almost certain that her heart is going to explode from the image of Rio and Marcus standing side by side in a homey kitchen, piping choux paste.

“What, you surprised?” Rio’s teasing her, she knows, but she still feels the need to explain.

“It’s not the kind of thing that my ex ever would have done,” Beth admits. “He had…ideas about activities for girls and activities for boys.”

Rio snorts. “Lemme guess, none of your sons did ballet.”

Beth shakes her head. “Sports and scouts.”

“And if they’d asked?”

Beth chews her mouthful as she thinks about it. Thinks about Dean’s dislike of the idea of Emma in karate.

“I don’t think he would have been keen,” Beth says.

“Asshole,” Rio says with a nod. “Marcus did a summer program with a neighbour. It was just a week, but he loved it, so I started hunting for a studio.”

Beth continues to eat as he explains.

“Figured that the way the teachers reacted to me would tell me a lot about how they’d treat Marcus. Chances are, he’ll have to deal with some shit from outside about being in ballet. Last thing we fucking need is him getting shit from the studio too. Not sure if you noticed,” he says with a semi-sarcastic drawl, “but ballet’s pretty white.”

“It is,” Beth agrees. “It’s really competitive too. We tried a couple of studios with Emma before finding this one. There was a teacher who said Emma was pigeon-toed, so there was no point in her even trying. One who physically moved her into a position that she couldn’t reach. I thought I was going to kill that woman.”

Rio looks like he agrees with the sentiment.

“I was happy to find the one we’re at now, even if Emma decided that she wanted to do karate instead.”

That makes him smile. “Yeah, she said she likes karate a lot.”

“It’s good for her,” Beth replies. “She’s pretty quiet, especially in comparison to Jane, but she’s getting more confident. I think it’s the yelling.”

Rio laughs. “Might be,” he says, “might be. What about you, you do ballet?”

Beth makes a face. “No, I never had the right body type for it, even when I was a kid, so my parents put me in piano.”

“Right body type?” Rio repeats. “What the fuck does that even mean?”

Beth lifts her wine glass. “Beats me. You obviously didn’t either, so what was your activity?”

Rio’s almost done all the food on his plate, but he stops to answer. “Got kicked out of Scouts.”

“What?” Beth stares at him. “I didn’t even know you could do that.”

He nods. “Me ’n my best friend thought it was dumb we were practicing building fires but never set ‘em. So we lit one. Problem was, we met in the church.”

Beth’s eyes widen.

“In our defence, the fire was contained pretty fast,” he says with a grin. “But our parents were asked not to bring us anymore.”

Beth starts to laugh. “You didn’t!”

Rio doesn’t deny it and finishes off his dinner.

“Should I be worried about you working around all those flammable books?” Beth jokes

Rio stands up, grabbing both of their plates and carrying them to the kitchen sink. “I’m not gonna set books on fire, Elizabeth. Believe me, that fire was the first and last one I ever set. Thought my parents were gonna murder me. For the rest of the year on the night I was supposed to go to Scouts, they made me go next door to spend an hour with our neighbour, Mr. Ruiz and help him out around the house.”

He runs the water for a moment, just enough to soak the plates, then returns to the table.

“Joke was on them, because Mr. Ruiz had a shit ton of books and he let me borrow whatever I wanted. Which is how I read Stephen King when I was way too young.” He meets her eye with a smile. “His wife had been a librarian. He pushed me to do well in school, said I could be one too one day.”

“And you did.”

Rio nods. “Couple of bumps along the way, but yeah.”

“Is he still -“ Beth can’t finish the thought.

“Alive?” Rio guesses. “Shit, yeah he is. He’s gonna outlive every single one of us. He’s like a grandpa to Marcus.”

“That’s sweet,” Beth says, setting her chin on her hand.

“You think I’m sweet?” Rio says, leaning back in his chair.

“I think your story is sweet,” Beth corrects. “And that some of your actions are sweet.”

He laughs. “I’m not sweet.”

“No?”

“If I were sweet,” he says, “I wouldn’t have spent all that time we were making dinner thinking ‘bout flipping up that dress of yours and bending you over the counter.”

Beth inhales sharply. Rio picks up on it.

“That one of those dreams you had?”

Beth can’t answer that, can’t get her dry throat to make a single noise as Rio stands up and comes around the table. She tilts her head back to keep her eyes on his face as he bends towards her.

“I bet it was,” he says softly. His hands coax her out of her chair.

Beth isn’t sure where this is going, although she’s got some hopes.

It’s better.

Rio lifts her onto the table then moves his hands to the top of her dress to play with the buttons there. Beth cups the back of his head to her and moans as he kisses her.

He’s a good kisser, not too overbearing, but not timid either. He seems to know what she wants before she does, adjusting his lips on hers.

Beth sets her hands on his cheeks, stroking against the grain of the stubble.

Rio pulls away, but doesn’t go very far. Just adjusts the position of his head, rubbing their noses together before diving back in.

As he kisses her, his fingers undo the buttons, starting at the top. “You’re gorgeous,” he pulls away to say. Beth tugs at the hem of his shirt. It makes him chuckle, but he pulls it up over his head and tosses it aside.

Rio’s all lean muscle and when Beth puts her hand on his pec, it’s solid.

“Oh,” she says. Rio shakes his head at her response, but kisses her again, mimicking her touch to cup her breast through the fairly utilitarian bra she’s got on.

The more they kiss, the more it feels like Rio is sucking the air from her lungs and replacing it with pure want. He gets the buttons undone and moves his hand down to play with the edge of her panties. Beth pulls his face closer with one hand while the other goes to work on his belt.

She’s got his jeans open and doesn’t have the patience to work them down over his skinny hips, so she just reaches in and wraps her hand around him.

Rio groans. “You don’t have to.”

Beth wants to see, so she uses her other hand to push the waistband of his jeans down along with his boxer briefs.

“I want to,” she tells him honestly. She looks down between them to his cock, which fills her hand.

And that's how Annie finds them when she bursts in through the kitchen door.

“So what was that about earlier? Tyler said he saw you two kissing in the frozen foods!”

Beth shrieks and grabs the sides of the top of her dress, which is gaping open, to cover herself up. Rio has a different idea. Yanking her to the edge of the table, he presses them close so that his erection is snug against her cunt and her bare breasts are smushed against his chest.

“Get out!” Beth shouts.

Annie just stares at the two of them.

Beth wants to squeeze her legs around Rio, trapping his length where it is and just grind the two of them to satisfying ends, but her sister isn’t moving.

“Annie, get out!”

It takes a few seconds, but Annie finally spins away with a shriek and runs, leaving the door open behind her.

Beth groans even as Rio chuckles. “I’ll lock the door,” he says into her ear, stepping away and leaving Beth feeling cold. She watches him pull his pants back up. Swallowing, she starts to re-button her dress.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Rio says. Beth looks up. He’s locked the door and has turned to face her. 

“What are you doing that for?”

“You were getting dressed,” Beth replies.

He lifts an eyebrow. “Because I didn’t want to flash your neighbours.” He walks back to the table she’s still sitting on and his fingers go to the buttons that she’s just done up. “That’s just for us, yeah?”

Beth can’t hide her confusion.

“Unless you want to stop.” He says it gently, brushing her hair out of her face.

She shakes her head.

“You don’t want to stop?”

Beth nods.

“You want me to touch you?”

Beth wraps her leg around his hips to pull him close. “Yes,” she admits.

Rio smiles and kisses her. It nearly distracts her to the point that she doesn’t notice his hand rising up between her thighs until he’s rubbing his fingertips up and down her entrance. Beth bites his lip and Rio groans.

“You’re wet for me,” he comments. “Or you always like this after dinner?”

Beth lifts her hips towards his fingers, but he doesn’t penetrate her.

“For me?” he asks. Beth nods. “Cat got your tongue?”

“No.”

She’s just never really gone for that - the whole talking during sex. Maybe to tell Dean that something was uncomfortable or that it felt good, but not in the lead-up.

Rio hums. “You want me to put my fingers inside of you?”

Beth’s mouth falls open slightly as those very fingers press against her clit. “Yes,” she gets out.

He doesn’t. Instead, he just traces the tip of his thumb up and down, only touching with the slightest of pressure.

“You do that for yourself?”

Beth bites her lip, shakes her head.

“No?” Rio moves quickly - she barely registers the disappearance of his thumb before he’s sinking one finger in.

Beth lets out a small shriek, not entirely expecting it, and grabs his wrist. She pants, quickly adjusting. Rio seems to realize this and he withdraws, breaking her hold on him and pressing slightly inward with another finger. That one’s a bit trickier. His fingers are so much longer and thicker than hers.

She tells him this.

“Yeah?” Rio hums. “Can’t get in here?” He pushes his fingers in as far as they can do and crooks them.

Beth groans.

“Can’t get full like you wanna be?”

She shivers at his words.

“Nobody been giving you what you need, huh.”

Beth gasps. “I’ve only ever with -“

Rio softens, the challenging gleam in his eyes fading slightly.

“He give you what you need?” he asks.

Beth doesn’t know how to answer that.

“No, he didn’t,” Rio concludes, using the hand not buried inside of her cunt to push her hair back. “Do you even know what you need, Elizabeth?”

Beth shakes her head. “I don’t - I -“

He shushes her softly. “We’re gonna deal with that together, okay? We gonna figure out what you like.”

Beth cries out as he turns his fingers inside of her and rubs her walls. She clutches at his arm.

“How about you tell me about one of them dreams?” Rio teases, scissoring his fingers now.

Beth looks at him, meets his eyes. He’s serious.

“C’mon, sweetheart,” he coaxes her, curling his fingers to reach a spot inside of her that Beth is pretty sure has never been touched before. “What got you so hot for me that it made you avoid me?”

She settles on a simple one. “You were - you were eating me out in bed.”

Rio chuckles and Beth stiffens.

“How’d you know breakfast in bed’s my favourite?” he says, voice husky. “Although it’s not quite that time, so I’m good with dessert.”

Beth moans as he continues to finger her.

“What do you say?”

“Yes!” Beth gasps. “Yes.”

He pulls his fingers out in one movement, grabs her hand and pulls her off the table.

“Where’s your bedroom?”

Beth pulls him down the hall.

Once they’re in the doorway, Rio grabs her by the hips and pulls her back against him. He grinds his cock against her ass. “Take your time, Elizabeth,” he says. “No need to rush.”

Beth shivers at the thought of what he’ll do with that time.

“What if we get interrupted again?” Beth asks.

“There someone who might be barging into your bedroom that I should be worried about?” Rio pulls her dress open and down, then goes for the clasp of her bra.

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Then I don’t see the problem.” Rio pushes her bra straps down and tosses it aside too. “We got all kinds of time.” He spins her around so that she’s facing him and ducks his head to mouth at her nipples. Beth squeaks when he lifts her up and carries her to the bed.

He lowers her carefully, but pushes her back until she’s lying down as he goes to his knees beside the bed. “Was it like this?” he asks. “In your dream?”

Beth swallows. “I wasn’t wearing anything,” she says, voice shaky. “And you were on the bed too.”

“We can do that,” he said, thumbs going to the sides of her panties and starting to tug them down. “Move up so your head is on the pillows.”

Beth does that and Rio takes the time to take off his jeans and boxer-briefs. Looking at his cock, Beth has to squeeze her thighs together at the thought of him inside of her.

Rio sees it and he’s looking at her like he’s about to consume her as he pries apart her knees and settles on his belly between her legs.

“Better?” he asks, setting his fingertips on her cunt and then separating them to reveal her entrance as he lowers his head to nuzzle her.

“Oh!” Beth gasps at the first sweep of his tongue. It ends on her clit and circles there before slipping back down to slide inside of her. Beth grabs the back of his head. Or tries to. There’s nothing much to hold on to.

Rio tilts his head, just like he had when he’d been kissing her mouth and oh god, Beth’s toes curl as she lifts her hips.

She looks down to see the top of his head shifting between her legs and it’s so much like the dream that she has to shut her eyes as he slips a finger inside of her. It’s not long before he's pushing in a second finger.

Scissoring them, he slides his tongue in as well and Beth yelps. He chuckles into her, but retreats to lap at her clit.

He pushes his fingers in as far as they go and crooks them, starts to rub in time with the motions of his tongue and lips.

Beth can’t even watch anymore. The sight is just too overwhelming, it feels like her brain must be breaking. She starts to pant as he steps up the pressure.

Beth is pretty sure she screams as she comes. She’s never felt anything like this before - the combination of Rio’s fingers deep inside of her and his tongue working her clit. He doesn’t stop any of it as she writhes with her orgasm until she whimpers with oversensitivity.

Rio pulls his fingers out first, then lowers his mouth to her cunt and kisses her there, tongue darting out to lick and taste her. Beth moans.

He’s grinning as he comes up the length of her body, face - oh God - his face wet with her.

“That was hot as fuck,” he says. Beth’s eyes widen. “You taste good.” He lowers his face so that his mouth is hovering over hers. Beth’s the one to bridge the distance, kissing him with an open mouth to chase the taste of _him_ , her, them.

She wants nothing more than to make him feel good now too. When she takes him in her hand, he’s hard, tip leaking. Setting her thumb over a bead of pre-cum, she glides it up to the head and circles her thumb there. He grunts, a low sound that settles in Beth’s belly and makes her want to just sink down onto him. It earns her another drop.

Rio breaks the kiss to move back on his knees, looking down to where her hand in circling him. 

Beth takes her hand away and his hips twitch, trying to follow. She lifts her thumb to her mouth and licks up the pre-cum that she’s gathered, moaning as she does.

He watches her with something fierce in his eyes and when she puts her hand back on him, he shudders. “Where do you want to finish?” she asks. “On me?” The hand not stroking up and down his cock goes to her belly, then rises up to cup one breast. “In me?” She touches her mouth, then drops her hand to her cunt. Her finger is nothing in comparison to his, barely feels like anything. She takes it out.

“Put me inside of you,” he says.

Beth shivers at his voice, but she brings his cock down to rub the head over her clit and folds, gasping at the feeling.

“Put me inside of you,” he repeats.

Beth has to use the fingers of her other hand to hold herself open as she pushes the head inside. It’s the first time in a long time that Beth has had anything thicker than a finger or two inside of herself and even that isn’t something that she does often, so he’s a stretch after two of his fingers.

But he groans low and his head falls and it makes Beth want to take him all the way, all at once. 

So she tries, but he grabs her by the hips before she can.

“Fuck!” he shouts.

His hands tighten on her hips. His eyes come up to hers, then go back to look at where he’s part of the way in. She thinks he’s going to start a slow rhythm that will get him all the way in, but his grip shifts and he pulls her the rest of the way down.

He groans. From there, it’s a frenzy. She wants Rio to come and does everything that she can to make that happen. Arches her back to offer her breasts up to him, squeezes his cock in time with his thrusts.

Rio seems intent to hold out though, his forehead beading with sweat as he nearly folds her in half.

“Oh god,” Beth gasps. Her hands are clenching the sheets tightly enough that she’s going to get cramps in her hand.

The expression on his face is one of smug pleasure that makes Beth let go of the sheet to work her hand down between them. First, she flicks her clit, but that’s not the point of this. She wants Rio to come. On his next thrust, she touches his balls and it makes his hips stutter.

Beth grins and does it again. The angle is awkward, but his jaw hardens and eyes slip shut. He hisses something that she can’t make out, then pulls back and starts to thrust again.

“Come on,” Beth says, keeping her voice soft. “You’re close aren’t you?”

He nods, opening his eyes so that he can look at her. “Yeah.”

Beth loves the way that he sounds - rough and smoky. She wants him to spill inside of her, wants to know what his face looks like when he’s coming, the noises that he makes.

The answer is that he goes almost entirely silent when he comes. Head back, he grinds his hips into her as he fills her up.

It makes Beth moan and move her fingers back to her clit so she can rub herself to another orgasm while he’s still stretching her out. It takes Rio a moment to recover, but when he does, he grabs her hand and shoves it aside, replacing it with his own. It doesn’t take long for him to get her there, pressing and circling with the pads of his fingers.

He doesn’t pull out right away. Instead, he bends down to kiss Beth far more softly than she expects.

“You good, mami?” he asks. Beth nods. “That’s good.”

When he pulls out, Beth squirms at the feeling of his cum slipping out. Rio grabs some tissues from the bedside table and helps her clean up.

Tossing the tissues aside, he rolls to his back beside her.

“Wow,” Beth breaths.

Rio’s hand comes up to pull her face in his direction. “Yeah?”

Beth nods.

“Rest up,” he says, touching her lips. “I wanna taste you again.”

Beth’s pretty sure that she’s died and gone to heaven.

———————————

Beth walks down the hall from the bedroom, biting her lip at the sight of Rio wearing nothing but underwear and her lemon patterned apron while he makes breakfast. He must hear her coming, because his head turns in her direction and his lips curl as she approaches.

“Like the way you look in my shirt,” he says.

Beth goes up on her tiptoes to kiss him good morning. “Like the way you look in my apron,” Beth responds when they break apart.

He laughs, joining their mouths again as one of his hands comes up to her back then glides down slowly until he’s cupping her ass.

“We need sustenance,” Rio says, “so I can take you back into the bedroom and make you scream my name until your voice is wrecked. Can we do that?”

Beth’s legs go weak as she gets wet at the promise in his voice.

“Uh huh,” she agrees.

His hand has slid under his shirt and, finding her bare, he grins. “Or maybe we start that now,” he suggests.

Beth steps away. “Nope. I’m hungry and I don’t want you burning those pancakes, so I’m going to go put some panties on. Remove the temptation.”

He pouts, but Beth runs to the bedroom. The last thing she needs is to have sex in her kitchen. Again, some traitorous part of her brain reminds her.

Yeah, but neither of us came, the rest of her argues. So it didn’t count.

Still, she picks a cute pair of panties and turns right around to go back to the kitchen.

Only to get there as the kitchen door opens and Ruby steps in.

Unlike Annie, she doesn’t start talking right away. She tends to wait until she’s actually in the same room as Beth before she lays into her.

So she doesn’t say anything before she realizes that the person at the stove is not Beth.

Beth is standing close enough to see Ruby’s eyes widen as she takes in the image of a barely clothed Rio. She must make a movement because Ruby’s gaze snaps to her.

Ruby opens her mouth, pauses, shuts it. She holds up a hand, opens her mouth, then shakes her head and turns around, leaving without a word.

Rio has turned in her direction at some point during the exchange. “So that’s Ruby, huh?”

Beth puts her hands over her face and groans.

**Author's Note:**

> This is mostly inspired by [this](https://pynkhues.tumblr.com/post/189540030029/id-like-to-see-marcus-in-the-ballet-class-too-it) post by pynkhues, in combination with a random AU that I came up with where Rio is a universally loved (by the kids and the parents, but for different reasons) children’s librarian. Add into that, I just watched Bad Moms, which has a scene where Jay Hernandez’s character (who is described as being able to install a carseat in two seconds) asks Mila Kunis’ character if he can go down on her again and I was like “Who has crafted this amazing man?”
> 
> Thank you to medievalraven and neveroffanon for being great betas! Thank you for reading and let me know if there's something that I should warn for! Will I ever write something that isn’t rated E? All signs point to no.


End file.
